Maybe
by leytonunit930
Summary: Set after the season three finale with a twist. Lucas thinks back to Naleys wedding. Story is in Lucas's point of view. COMPLETE READ AUTHOR'S NOTE! VERY IMPORTANT! NO FLAMES PLEASE! IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE COUPLE, DO NOT BASH MY STORY!
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Maybe **

**Author: leytonunit930**

**Pairing: Leyton though it starts off Brucas**

**Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or anything having to do with OTH. Some quotes in this story have come from the show because they have a purpose in the story. **

**Author's Note: Hey everybody! This is my new story. It's a little bit different than my other ones which I am currently working on. It's a oneshot, but I'm debating whether to add one final chapter. So please leave a review and tell me if I should add another one or just keep it like this. If I do add a chapter, it would be like an epilogue sort. Thanks!**

Curly, blonde hair.

Brown, hazel eyes that seem to stare into one's soul.

A piercing gaze.

A laugh that could light up the whole room.

I told Brooke that I kept the box full of Peyton's things to remind me of the mistakes I made in the past. When Peyton in her red dress today at Nathan and Haley's wedding walked past me, I couldn't help myself. I had to tell her she looked nice even if Brooke said I couldn't talk to her.

"_Hey Peyt..."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_You look nice."_

When I said that to her, our eyes connected. At that moment, the night I found her on the beach flashed through my head.

"_It's always gonna be there, isn't it? You and me."_

She stared deep into my eyes and I looked back at her. It was as if, that moment, nothing else mattered. It was just me and her in the world. But then, she turned away.

Brooke and I decided to dance. I spun her around, and suddenly my eyes wandered over to a lonely Peyton Sawyer in the corner.

"Eyes over here Lucas!" Brooke said teasingly.

"Sorry, I was just trying to find Nathan and Haley."

I felt that Brooke was trying to detach herself from me. Lately, it seemed that way. I saw that she moved closer to me and she looked so vulnerable. I thought something may be wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Lucas, do you love me?"

"Of course I do. Why do you ask?"

"I need you to do something for me then…"

"What?"

"Not talk to Peyton."

"WHAT!"

"I mean it. If you love me, you won't talk to her, look at her, or hang out with her."

"Brooke, you can't be serious. What happened?"

"She just told me some things."

"If it's about the library kiss…."

"What kiss?"

"You mean that's not what she told you?"

Uh oh. I knew I was in trouble then; I had just opened up a new bag of worms maybe even the Brooke Lucas Peyton love triangle.

"I can't believe you kissed her Lucas!"

"It didn't mean anything."

But it did. I couldn't take it anymore. Really, I couldn't. She always was insecure about Peyton. And now to ask him to completely give up his friendship because she was insecure! He couldn't do it. He told her he's never leave her and he fully intended to keep that promise.

"I can't do that."

"What?" She looked confused as to what he was talking about.

"I can't end my friendship with Peyton."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"But you love me?"

"And if you truly loved me, you wouldn't be pressuring me to do this just because you're insecure. Brooke, I don't think this is going to work out. You and I are two different people with two different interests and opinions. I thought I loved you. But you've changed. Wanting me to end a friendship just so you can feel better? Knowing you will have me all to yourself? What's next? Haley?"

"Lucas…why? Why can't you do it?"

"Why do you push me away?"

"I don't push you away! I'm trying to hold you onto you for dear life! Why won't you let me in? Why wouldn't you talk to me about Keith?"

"Because you…"

"Weren't there. Right? But other things Lucas! Why couldn't you talk to me? Like your HCM? Or your mom and Keith?"

"I don't know."

"I want us to be together forever Lucas but I need your heart. I'm giving you mine, why can't you give me yours?"

"Brooke…"

"Do you still love her? Is that why?" Brooke asked indignantly.

"I can't give you my heart. I can't. I gave it away to someone a long time ago, and I haven't gotten it back."

"I guess that's the answer. Well Lucas, I think we should break up. You don't love me like the way I love you."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not. You're actually glad that the truth has finally come out. And here I was, a fool, to even think you love me. All the I love yous, the you're so pretty, and the you're the only one for me were bull shit. I hope you're happy and I hope that whoever has your heart is happy."

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Hurt? Yeah, you did. But thankfully, high school is over. I'm heading out to California where I can let myself heal."

"Do you love me?" Brooke thought back to the argument she had with Peyton earlier.

"_And none of what you said Brooke is Yes, Peyton, I do love him." Peyton spat out bitterly._

"Good-bye Lucas."

So on the day of my best friend and my brother's wedding, I broke up with my girlfriend. She was always jealous of my relationship and friendship with Peyton, but this was too much for me to do. Looking back on our relationship, me and Brooke, I realize there wasn't any love. It was just lust. She was like me. She felt lonely and we found each other. We used each other. We were afraid to be alone, so instead we put ourselves into relationships where there was no connection. I think back to the start of sophomore year and I realize I've never really had a connection with anybody. Haley is my best friend but there was no connection, not like it was with _her. _So maybe I kept the box to remind me of my mistake, my mistake to not fight harder for her. My mistake to leave her alone. My mistake to hide when I still truly loved her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Maybe **

**Author: leytonunit930**

**Pairing: Leyton though it starts off Brucas**

**Disclaimer: I do not own OTH or anything having to do with OTH. Some quotes in this story have come from the show because they have a purpose in the story. **

**Author's Note: Hey everybody! Thank you all for the reviews. I'm glad everybody liked it. I hope this epilogue matches your standards. Hope I didn't disappoint! To the person who reviewed (nikki?) who wrote, _leyton sucks and i hate how u made brooke come off so bitchy. i mean is youre boyfriend cheated on u with your best friend and then u get back together and u find out she is still in love with him and they kissed i think u have a right to be insecure and pissed. anyway brucsa is made for each other forever and for always and leyton is gross and peyton is a blonde skank-ass backstabbing boyfriend stealing bitch, or at least that is how my friend describes her._ My advice to nikki? who didn't leave an email address at all was To the person who criticized and bashed my story, do you not see my pen name? I'm sorry if you don't like Leyton, but that does not mean you should disrespect other people and their stories because you like a different couple. This is a story that I wrote which if you had read the disclaimer said that I don't own OTH, this story is a figment of my imagination. So do us all a favor, use appropriate capitalization and punctuation and respect all the other readers, writers, and stories even if they do not support the same ship that you do. Thanks to all the other reader who helped defend me! This chapter/epilogue is dedicated to you guys. ENJOY!**

Pain.

Loneliness.

Fear.

Slaps.

Heart-breaking.

Giving up.

Silence.

Love.

My life story summed up in a couple of words. Most people that I know don't have the fucked up life that I have. Who loses their birth mother, their best friend, the boy she asks to marry her and then gets rejected by him, and the boy who never left her heart? And then gets shot at school?

Me. I'm the one who pushed by birth mother away and when I finally decided to talk to her, I only had a few months before she died to breast cancer. Ellie was full of life, but was afraid to live it. Sometimes I pity her. She gave me away, got hooked on drugs, got cancer, and then died. She was probably lonely most of her life. She told me to go out and have fun, enjoy life, hell even embrace life. She told me to go after Lucas, but I didn't.

Why?

Because he's with Brooke. Because he loves Brooke. Because he got over me. That's why.

Brooke. My best friend. Wait, make that ex best friend. Her last words to me were this friendship is over; I don't care if I never see you again. Harsh, huh? Yeah. I admit it. I'm an idiot. What kind of person tells their best friend, Honey, I'm in love with your boyfriend! Yay!

Yeah. again. it's. me. But you know why I did it? I did it cause I wanted to be honest. And maybe, I did it because I couldn't handle not telling anybody how I felt about him. Was it worth it? The title of my next strip.

Was it worth it? I don't know. That's an honest answer.

Jake. The boy who helped me escape from my drug addiction. Did I love him? Yeah, I love him for being there for me. Am I in love with him? Probably no. No one can ever fill that void but him. When he told me to follow my heart, my voice ached to say, but I did; that's why I'm here. But the truth was, if I did follow my heart, I would be saying, I need to leave Jake. I'm sorry, you're right.

Maybe, I'm the one at fault here. I pushed them all away. Even him. Maybe he couldn't even take it anymore, who knows?

But enough thinking about the past, I need a new start. I've decided to wear my hair in curls now. Looking in the mirror, I don't see the old me. I see someone who's gone through a lot of pain and suffering.

I repainted my room. Surprising, not black, but white. White for a fresh new start, a new slate. I'm leaving in about 3 months to go to college. UNC. My dad wanted to sell the house, he told me yesterday. You know what I did? I said no. Plain no. He looked surprised, but I think he understood. I said to him that this house is the only memory of mom that I have. He looked at me and I saw tears in this house. I think he just realized that maybe his little girl was growing up.

So I got a new hair cut and I repainted my room. What's next? As I finished painting the door to my room, someone cleared their throat. I just realized I wasn't alone. Looking up, I was faced with two blue piercing eyes.

"What do you want?" I ask. "Didn't your girlfriend tell you to stay away from me?"

I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but all this drama and all the problems were getting to me.

"You left early from the wedding. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine."

"I don't believe you."

"Fine, then don't."

"I won't."

"Lucas, this is stupid. Please leave before your girlfriend finds out that you're here."

"It won't matter."

"Oh really? Your girlfriend won't care that you're here?"

"ex."

"ex-what?"

"ex-girlfriend."

"oh."

"yeah."

"sorry."

"It's alright. We both saw it coming."

"Is that why you're here?"

"No."

"Well then, why are you here?"

"To see if you're okay. Didn't we go over this already?"

"Yeah."

"Why have you been avoiding me?"

_Maybe because I'm in love with you, but you don't love me back. _"No I haven't."

"Don't lie to me, Peyton."

"I'm not."

"So you painted your room and switched back to curls."

"Why did you break up with Brooke?"

"I told her about the library kiss-"

"Which you said meant nothing to you."

"And I told her that I couldn't be in a relationship with her if she was so insecure and unable to trust me. She asked me why didn't I let her in and give her my heart."

Lucas was now sitting on the floor next to me. His piercing blue eyes. I could get lost in them forever. He moved closer to me and I moved back trapping myself between him and the door.

"What did you say to her?'

"I told her that maybe I couldn't give it to her because I gave it to a girl a long time ago."

"Oh." It couldn't possibly be me. We didn't even date for pete's sake.

"Anna?"

"Nope."

"Rachel?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Nikki?"

"Not in a million years."

"Who Lucas? If not Brooke then who? Those are the three girls you dated."

"I never said I dated her."

My eyes widened as soon as he said that. He was talking about me. Putting me through that torture. His expression was completely serious, not even playful.

"I need to-"

"No Peyton. I let you go before. I'm not letting you go now."

"What about-"

"None of them matter. Just you. It's always been you and only you and no matter what I do it will always be you and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Lucas…"

"I've been wanting to do this for the longest time and I hope, no I pray that you won't interrupt me-"

After he declared that I was the only one for him, I couldn't stand it anymore. I kissed him. Yeah I know, he said not to interrupt him, but I don't think he'll mind.

"Sorry, I know you said not to interrupt-"

He interrupted me by kissing me! I was kissing Lucas Scott!

"What does this mean then Peyt?"

"I definitely want to be with you. Can we just take it slow?"

"If it means I get to be your boyfriend, then absolutely. But can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"Before you were so hesitant, but now?"

"Now, I've realized that life's too short. And you can't predict the future. I want you to be in my life and I'm tired of being scared. Maybe, I just want to listen to my heart and stop over thinking about things and over analyzing them." I said while leaning up to kiss him.

So yeah, I've been through a lot. A lot of heartaches, grief, and pain. But I'm thinking things might be better now. Maybe all I had to do was open my eyes to reality and open my heart to love.

_5 years later_

After everything Lucas and I went through, both together and separately, it was all worth it. As I watch him sleeping so peacefully, I can't help but count my blessings. Brooke finally accepted as a couple with no angry feelings, Nathan and Haley are having a baby boy in a couple of months, and me and Lucas: just got married.

When Lucas proposed to me, he looked me dead in the eye and said,…

"_Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering." I want you to be in my life present and future. We've been through so much in the past, that what we have now, I appreciate and value it. I don't take it for granted. I can't imagine my life without you. I see us getting married, having children, getting older together. I want us, not just right now, but forever. Will you marry me Peyton Sawyer?"_

I realize that pain and suffering are important. They make you treasure your life. You don't take it for granted. You value it. You take care of it. And like Ida Scott Taylor said, you make it beautiful so you can remember it."

_Fin_

THANKS EVERYBODY FOR READING THIS! LEAVE COMMENTS, PLEASE? THANKS! The first quote is by Ida Scott Taylor.


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